Meet my new hunting partner for this year (falconry thread) - Page 4

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Meet my new hunting partner for this year (falconry thread) (Page 4 of 5)

Posted: 8/23/2016 5:19:37 PM EDT

[#1]

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WHO in the hell trims her beak? I want to see pics of that

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Well i trimmed her beak this weekend. Now I'm just waiting on the last of her feathers to finish growing out to get out hunting. She's been really hyper this last week, so getting good pictures of her beak is difficult. We've been working on her fitness for a bit now, and I think she's just burning the extra energy off.

Here she's wiping her face off after she just ate. This is called "feaking". Don't have a feaking clue why

Posted: 8/29/2016 3:45:05 PM EDT

[#2]

So went to the Indiana Falconers association meet this weekend. Had a blast hanging out with other falconers, and swapping stories. Thought you guys might like to see a few of the birds there. Sadly my cell died so I only took a few.

Had a few guest speakers

Peregrines

Cooper's hawk

Half Siberia half Finish goshawk

American Kestrel, I plan on flying one of these the summer of 2017

Tiny male Harris Hawk

And my red tail

Group shot of all that came

Posted: 9/20/2016 7:44:48 AM EDT

[#3]

Is she hunting yet?

Posted: 9/20/2016 10:37:48 AM EDT

[#4]

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Quoted:
Is she hunting yet?

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We went out Sunday, but her weight is just a bit to high still. Gonna try again tomorrow if her weight is where I want it.
Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks getting ready.

Here she's worn out from doing jump ups,

Her being set loose in the woods to try hunting.

The business end of a hawk

Posted: 9/20/2016 10:52:24 AM EDT

[#5]

She's looking beautiful as ever!

Posted: 9/20/2016 3:53:07 PM EDT

[#6]

I stumbled upon this thread, as well as others. Awesome to see the progress over a year!

Keep up the great work, Looking forward to this years hunting pics!

Posted: 9/21/2016 8:27:21 AM EDT

[#7]

She looks great this year!

Posted: 9/23/2016 10:25:11 PM EDT

[#8]

Does she ever try to land on your head/shoulder or unprotected places?

Badass bird!

Posted: 9/23/2016 10:43:42 PM EDT

[#9]

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Quoted:
Does she ever try to land on your head/shoulder or unprotected places?

Badass bird!

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She does, more than once on my head, and once on my shoulder. If she doesn't squeeze it's not a problem. However she is well aware that my fist is part of me, and will squeeze when she doesn't like something.

Posted: 10/3/2016 9:33:37 PM EDT

[#10]

Well we've been flying her free again for a couple weeks, but unfortunately haven't got a kill yet. She also had a bout of sour crop, a bacterial infection, probably caused by me over feeding her on a very hot day. The food spoils in their crop before any digestive acids can stop bacteria from growing. Thankfully she got over it. Had it been salmonella she would have been in real trouble.

We're back out now that she's 100% again. An we had two days with near kills. Yesterday she almost nailed a duck in a shallow pond. But didn't hang on, and had to row herself to shore. Sadly she was so wet it ended our trip.
Today she missed a squirrel by inches following to the ground after it bailed from the tree.
Very much ready for the leaves to fall. I saw 6 squirrels today, but lost all of them once they hit the canopy.

Thank God for bells or I'd have no idea where she is half the time.

Her on the mend

In the pond right after missing the duck.

Swimming back

Once shore with the lure.

Angry wet hawk.

Posted: 10/23/2016 11:38:20 PM EDT

[#11]

So haven't posted an update in a while, haven't had to much to post. Been hunting every day and she's killing regularly. Unfortunately I broke my gopro and just got it back today. So didn't have many pictures to post. Here's a few pictures from this week.

Squirrel killed this afternoon, she got it feeding in a feild. Wasn't the most exciting kill, but a kills a kill. She still managed to get a small bite on her foot.

Relaxing at home after hosing her off, and cleaning her feet.

Here she one from yesterday day. She is tearing the nest apart, and this squirrel bailed out. My phone is zoomed in as far as it will go. It was probably a good 40 foot drop. She hit the squirrel on the ground but lost it before I could get to her.

She beat me to the car that day. She was ready to go home.

And an unusual kill last Friday. She got a muskrat she spotted while soaring.

Hiding her kill

Muskrats bleed a ton.

She also had a brief fight with a raccoon that broke the tips off a few tail feathers, and messed one up pretty good. Just glad she's wasn't hurt.
If you guys want more regular updates you can follow my page on Instagram @jsmith0350

Posted: 10/24/2016 10:05:01 AM EDT

[#12]

Can you persuade her to go after a specific target, or is it just whatever is in view?

Posted: 10/24/2016 10:40:48 AM EDT

[#13]

I can get her focused on specific game, but she will go for anything she thinks she can handle. We mostly hunt squirrel, so she looks in thevery trees mostly and prefers squirrel. If she sees a rabbit or a rat she will chase it. An she has a thing for ducks. She's only got one, but come close many times.

Posted: 11/12/2016 10:03:14 PM EDT

[#14]

How you doing church? Everything ok with you and da bird?

Posted: 11/13/2016 3:28:18 AM EDT

[#15]

Was going pretty well up till today. Lost track of her for a good 20 minutes, eventually spotting her on the ground and hundred yards or so out. She had nailed another muskrat. Unfortunately this one put up more of a fight. She took a mild bite on her right foot, and a bad one on her left. There was a hole right through her pad on the rear toe, and a chunk ripped off on the underside of her little toe. I cleaned it out and will check it in the morning to see if more will have to be done. She's confined to her travel box to keep her still, and to keep her from walking through any poo.

Other than that it was going well. She's at 2 muskrats, a opossum and three squirrels. The weather and the time change have made it difficult to get out as much as I would have liked.
Here's a few pictures. Well more than a few.
Her fighting with the possum in the tree after ripping it out of a big squirrel nest. She took a small bite from it, nothing bad

Once the ground with it.

Didn't fly yesterday due to 30mph winds. She decided she wanted to sit on my shoe instead of her perch. Was a bad idea to let her hang there, she nearly got my leg.

And this is the muskrat who messed her up.

And here's the damage, was hard to get a picture of it all.

And here's a video of her last squirrel kill.

Posted: 11/13/2016 8:41:18 AM EDT

[#16]

Thanks for the update, always look forward to your posts.

Posted: 11/13/2016 9:29:09 AM EDT

[#17]

Thanks for the update, hope she heals fine. Damn u are one lucky man

Posted: 11/13/2016 7:19:30 PM EDT

[#18]

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Thanks for the update, hope she heals fine. Damn u are one lucky man

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She's looking ok today, minor swelling in her little toe, but no signs of infection in either. If it keeps like this we should flying mid to late this week.

Posted: 11/14/2016 7:46:19 AM EDT

[#19]

Well done, she gets better and better!

Posted: 11/15/2016 9:10:51 AM EDT

[#20]

Well this is the coolest thread of the year.

Posted: 11/16/2016 12:46:33 AM EDT

[#21]

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Quoted:
Well this is the coolest thread of the year.

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Well the not this year. Thread is now a year and a day old

Quick update, foot is looking good. No swelling, or infection. Should be hunting this weekend.

Posted: 11/20/2016 10:23:33 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:

Well the not this year. Thread is now a year and a day old

Quick update, foot is looking good. No swelling, or infection. Should be hunting this weekend.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Well this is the coolest thread of the year.

Well the not this year. Thread is now a year and a day old

Quick update, foot is looking good. No swelling, or infection. Should be hunting this weekend.

Glad to hear that. Thanks for the awesome thread!

Posted: 11/21/2016 12:17:12 AM EDT

[#23]

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Quoted:

Glad to hear that. Thanks for the awesome thread!

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Well this is the coolest thread of the year.

Well the not this year. Thread is now a year and a day old

Quick update, foot is looking good. No swelling, or infection. Should be hunting this weekend.

Glad to hear that. Thanks for the awesome thread!

Thank you, and sadly no hunting this weekend.
The wind was crazy yesterday, and she was 15 grams over her max weight. Hopefully tomorrow.

Posted: 11/21/2016 9:46:04 AM EDT

[#24]

Following on instagram now, thanks. Awesome thread.

I get a coopers or a harris hawk in my back yard fairly often. I forget which it is. But the lady behind us feeds all the birds so the hawk is regularly killing dove back there and eating them in my tree…

We call it the killing fields

Posted: 11/21/2016 4:33:29 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
Following on instagram now, thanks. Awesome thread.

I get a coopers or a harris hawk in my back yard fairly often. I forget which it is. But the lady behind us feeds all the birds so the hawk is regularly killing dove back there and eating them in my tree…

We call it the killing fields

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Lol, could be either. With it taking doves I would lean towards a Cooper's Hawk.
I'll be getting a male Harris this summer.

Posted: 11/21/2016 7:09:44 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:

Lol, could be either. With it taking doves I would lean towards a Cooper's Hawk.
I'll be getting a male Harris this summer.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Following on instagram now, thanks. Awesome thread.

I get a coopers or a harris hawk in my back yard fairly often. I forget which it is. But the lady behind us feeds all the birds so the hawk is regularly killing dove back there and eating them in my tree…

We call it the killing fields

Lol, could be either. With it taking doves I would lean towards a Cooper's Hawk.
I'll be getting a male Harris this summer.

Yeah, only dove and there are more pigeons to be taken but only goes for dove.

Posted: 11/24/2016 1:30:59 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:

Yeah, only dove and there are more pigeons to be taken but only goes for dove.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Following on instagram now, thanks. Awesome thread.

I get a coopers or a harris hawk in my back yard fairly often. I forget which it is. But the lady behind us feeds all the birds so the hawk is regularly killing dove back there and eating them in my tree…

We call it the killing fields

Lol, could be either. With it taking doves I would lean towards a Cooper's Hawk.
I'll be getting a male Harris this summer.

Yeah, only dove and there are more pigeons to be taken but only goes for dove.

Maybe a small male coop, or a hen sharp shinned hawk if it's ignoring pigeons. I can't wait to kill pigeons with a harris this summer.

Posted: 11/24/2016 2:48:54 PM EDT

[#28]

That is VERY cool. We have Hawks, barred owls, and bald eagles around my place, so I have to watch out that my 9.5 pound terrier doesn't end up as lunch. We have wild rabbits, squirrels, rats, and all sorts of birds that the birds of prey eat. Every so often I find a bird strike in the yard. A bird strike looks like someone stuck a firecracker up a pidgeon's ass and blew it up. Feathers all over the place..

Birds of prey are awesome.

Posted: 11/24/2016 3:01:13 PM EDT

[#29]

Beautiful and deadly. I love it!

Posted: 11/24/2016 6:36:19 PM EDT

[#30]

Glad she's healing up OK - looks like that muskrat had some gnarly teeth.

Posted: 11/24/2016 7:43:00 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
Glad she's healing up OK - looks like that muskrat had some gnarly teeth.

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They do, and she's developed a love for them. She's killed the two, and made attempts a several more. Gonna have to avoid a few areas until late it gets cold

Posted: 12/21/2016 9:14:14 PM EDT

[#32]

keeping thread alive, how are you two doing?

Posted: 12/23/2016 11:32:49 PM EDT

[#33]

She doing well, unfortunately I've been super lax about taking pictures. Up to 8 squirrels, 2 muskrats, 1 possum, and 3 rabbits. My buddy has the pictures of my bird on the bunnies. Once I get them I'll post them up. I've got the rest of the year off, and as long as the weather cooperates I'll be out with her everyday for a few hours. Hopefully we get going good. Been a very slow start to the year. I had hoped to be getting close to 30 kills by now.

Here's one of her watching TV with me on a cold night.

Posted: 12/24/2016 4:44:14 PM EDT

[#34]

Had a short window for a quick hunt before Christmas with the family, and we got our first rabbit off the fist. Was a bit windy, and extremely muddy. Flushed the 3rd rabbit we had saw from the edge of the feild and ran about 20 feet into the wind before making a hard left for cover and my girl pitched up to about 30' and rolled into a dive. Perfect head shot. Got to love it.

When I was gutting it is found this. I didn't see any damage on the outside.

Posted: 12/28/2016 6:13:41 PM EDT

[#35]

This thread is awesome.

Posted: 12/29/2016 1:27:00 AM EDT

[#36]

Quote History

Quoted:
This thread is awesome.

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Thank you, here's yesterdays kills. Today was a bust despite going to 3 good spots. The weather just wasn't conducive to squirrel hawking, and I don't want to over hunt my 2 rabbit spots.

Posted: 12/30/2016 2:25:38 AM EDT

[#37]

Incredible thread!! Thank you for taking the time to share with us!

Posted: 1/3/2017 1:39:58 AM EDT

[#38]

Just found this thread. Very cool stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Posted: 1/3/2017 1:45:08 AM EDT

[#39]

Now you get moose and squirrel.

We start with squirrel.

Posted: 1/4/2017 5:47:48 PM EDT

[#40]

Thanks for the continuing updates.

Posted: 1/9/2017 12:29:12 AM EDT

[#41]

Quick update, birds doing well. We're up to 11 squirrels, and 9 rabbits as of today. Plus the two muskrats, and a possum. She did have a set back last week. She was chasing a squirrel the day after my last post, and hit it in a thick bundle of vines. In the fight she somehow managed to grab her own beak. She lost the squirrel on the way down, but held onto her own face for a minute. Unfortunately she punched a hole in her beak. So she was down recovering most of this last week. Thankfully no infection like, and it's healed up completely.

She getting really good at taking rabbits off the fist. Normally red tails are flown from trees as they aren't as quick as some hawks off the fist and really benefit from the height advantage. Mines taken well to being thrown (I really lunch her hard) up and towards a flushed rabbit. I can normally get her 20 feet up, and she will then power after the rabbit. This last rabbit was flushed in some really thick weeds, and she followed it turn for turn until it hit an opening. She timed it just right and rolled into a short dive and nailed it to the ground.

Her on the ground holding her beak

Looks worse than it is due to the angle.

And today's rabbit.

Posted: 1/21/2017 7:18:44 PM EDT

[#42]

Wow this is freaking incredible, possibly one of the coolest threads I have ever seen. I too read My Side of the Mountain as a kid and think of it from time to time. I'm also a Kentucky native but living out of state while on active duty. If I ever move back or come to visit would love to sit down and pick your brain for a few hours.

Posted: 1/21/2017 10:32:36 PM EDT

[#43]

Your more than welcome to. If your ever home on leave you welcome to come out. I'll have a summer bird this year, so I'll be out most of the year.
Sorry no new pictures, weather has been crap and we haven't had any luck. Thinking I may cut her loose early, the wild reds are pairing up already. If I can't get her on game there's no point in keeping her.

Posted: 1/28/2017 5:45:02 PM EDT

[#44]

Just a bump for a super interesting thread.

Keep up the good work.

Posted: 1/30/2017 3:12:16 PM EDT

[#45]

Not to much to report, we've got one more squirrel since our last update. The weather has been extremely uncooperative, and I got sick for a few days. Got a meet in Tennessee coming up in 2 weeks that I'm looking forward to. This place is like squirrel hawking heaven. Really hoping to pull 5 or 6 squirrels in 3 days. Well keep plugging away here until then. Gonna try today, but with 20mph winds finding squirrels will be difficult.

Posted: 2/9/2017 9:51:35 PM EDT

[#46]

Well not much to update. Weather has been awful, and we've had an extremely hard time finding squirrels. I think we've seen 3 in the last week, in probably 20 hours in the woods. If I wasn't going to Tennessee with her for a meet with other squirrel hawkers I would probably cut her loose at this point. Her frustration with me not finding game has led to very poor feild control. She's very slow to respond to being called. We did get lucky once earlier this week, unfortunately it was a squirrel she found on her own, and further reinforced her belief that she doesn't need my help.
Interestingly enough when rabbit hunting she is very responsive since I can constantly get them up for her. The down side is that 2 of my 3 places safe for her less than an hour away where leveled for new homes. So I can't go more than once a week or so.

This warm winter has been hell on my hunting. I've even seen local red tails mating, this is at least a month ahead of their normal timing.

Posted: 2/10/2017 1:25:31 PM EDT

[#47]

This is such a great thread. Sorry to hear about the poor hunting grounds.

Come here to Charleston. Squirrel city. Even had a raptor on the trunk of a car with a squirrel hiding underneath the car. That was pretty cool to see--a little standoff.

Hopefully the hunting improves!

Thanks for doing this thread. Been so informative.

Posted: 2/10/2017 1:35:09 PM EDT

[#48]

Man that sucks to hear that even she is getting frustrated---although it really adds to "They don't bond" information you told us about earlier in the thread. Its a very interesting dynamic between Bird and Falconer, and I really appreciate you showing and telling us.

Posted: 2/10/2017 11:21:21 PM EDT

[#49]

It really is a one way bond. Hopefully with tomorrow off I can get out a few hours from home and find better hunting grounds. It's amazing how fast they will start keeping close once you kick up a few game animals.

And South Carolina is great for squirrel hawking, a friend of mine is close to her 100th squirrel for the season. She sees on average 20 squirrels per hour hunt on week days. Her bird got 4 yesterday. She's flown it for 4 years now, and it's an exceptional hawk. And it has jet black eyes.

Posted: 2/13/2017 11:10:01 PM EDT

[#50]

Made a shot collection of clips of us chasing rabbits. Cut out anyour rabbit screams, or shots of her on a still live rabbit due to a troll who reports me for animal abuse when I do.

https://youtu.be/5wrxM7WvMho

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Meet my new hunting partner for this year (falconry thread) (Page 4 of 5)

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